Today was our last day and our free day. We decided to head to Bowman's Beach on Sanibel Island and then finish the day with a catamaran tour which we signed up for before our trip started. It was another hot day, but we were hoping once we got out on the gulf side of Sanibel Island we would experience a little breeze off the ocean.
We started the day with breakfast like usual and then headed to Walmart to grab some drinks and snacks along with some Subway subs for lunch. We hopped in the vans and headed out on our 40 min drive out to Sanibel Island. Once we got to the coast we could see the Sanibel Causeway we would have to travel over to get to the island. It was a pretty big bridge.
As we approached the island, the hurricane damage from last September was evident. Once we got on shore and started driving throughout the island, you could see all of the clean-up and construction that was still taking place. We stopped out a rental shop to get canopies and spent some time talking to the owner (who was super nice) about the impact of the hurricane. We grabbed our three canopies and made our way to the beach.
The beach was beautiful! We parked our cars, paid for our parking spots and hit some bathrooms before taking the 5 minute walk to the beach. The water was rough. I would say the waves reminded me of Lake Michigan as they were so close together. The water temp was nothing like Lake Michigan! Even though many of us had goggles, the water clarity was so bad we could only blindly grab handfuls of shells to inspect above water. At one point, after diving down for some shells I realized I had gone into the water with my key fob. I was thankful to still have the key and I brought it out of the water to place on the beach towel.
We spent a little over 2 hours on the beach. We enjoyed out Subway subs and other snacks and drinks and we spent time swimming, shelling and walking the beach. When the time came we packed up our canopies and headed back to drop off the canopies and head over to our catamaran ride.
We arrived at Copasetic Sails about 10 minutes before heading out. Perfect timing:). We had an amazing experience. The weather was perfect and the captain was awesome. We enjoyed complimentary sodas and waters as we enjoyed our sail out to Sanibel and back. We began our trip watching 3-4 dolphins right near our boat. Apparently they were mating. You sure don't see that every day! We had a gorgeous ride and enjoyed hanging out as a group. On the way back, Caleb got to take over steering for awhile.
When we got back I sent Caleb to the car to grab our tip for the captain. He couldn't get in the van. The fob didn't work. Sooo... The restaurant was just down the block so we piled everyone into the one van so we could get to the restaurant to eat while we figured everything out. A couple guys sat in the trunk, and as I came around the back to shut the hatchback, someone pressed a button to shut it. I didn't see it in time and walked into the hatchback door.
It was hard to tell if I needed stitches, but we didn't have time to get checked. We had to eat, get into our locked van and figure out if the fob would start the van. If not, we would need another van. At this point it was about 7 and a half hours before we had to wake up and leave for the airport.
We headed over to the restaurant and got things figured out with Turo regarding the van. Our food was actually really good, and after finishing our food we headed back to our other van to wait for the locksmith to arrive. Thankfully, once we got into the van the van started. We loaded up the vans, and though we wanted to catch the sunset, we decided to head back so we would have time to clean out the vans and get them washed before heading to bed.
When we got back to the church we packed up, and get some sleep before getting up at 3:25 AM so we could leave for the airport.
In the end, God answered many prayers and we made it to the airport on time the next morning. Another great trip full of great memories!!
~ Chris Hendrikse
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| All ready for the beach!! |
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| Heading over the Sanibel Causeway! You can't tell here, but this is a pretty huge bridge. |
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Our first looks at Sanibel Island. Shortly after this pic we stopped at a shop to rent canopies for the day. The owner was a 3rd gen owner, and was rebuilding the business after suffering damage to the building and loss of 40% of their equipment. He showed me how high the water was on their building and explained how the entire island was under water. He told me 110 cottages were swept away and around 10 people died. When asked if there was any hesitation about rebuilding he said, "We are Islanders and we're not going anywhere."
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| Arrival at Bowman's Beach. |
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| After the intense sunlight and heat all week, this was a great idea! |
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| This picture was taken shortly after I found out I had been swimming in the ocean with the fob for our van. |
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| The beach was super beautiful. Sanibel is known for shelling, but today it was rough and the water clarity was close to zero. We found some cool shells and enjoyed swimming in the warm water. |
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| Out for a walk down the beach. |
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| A loggerhead sea-turtle nest. There were several along the beach. |
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| Enjoying the waves. |
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| A couple of the cool shells the kids found |
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| Enjoying the sunshine! |
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| Time to head back to the vehicles and head over to Fort Myers Beach for our catamaran ride. |
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Body surfing + getting slammed on a beach full of broken sea shells = what you see here!
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| Still much evidence a hurricane came through |
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| Brown Pelican |
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| Ready to sail! |
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| Before leaving we spent about 10 minutes watching dolphins. |
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| Livin' the life |
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| Our captain |
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| Heading out! |
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| Beautiful! |
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| Enjoying the comfort |
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| The breeze made it so comfortable! |
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| The lighthouse on Sanibel |
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| Yes, we even had a toilet down below. |
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| The view from down below. |
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| Caleb takin' over the controls |
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| A pic after the bleeding stopped. |
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| After a great meal we headed back to our other van |
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| A couple pelican pics while we waited for the locksmith to get us in our van |
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| Only took him 30 seconds to get us in AND THE KEY FOB WORKED! |
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| Beautiful sunset! |
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| Last look before heading to bed |
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| Loading up early in the morning |
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| Last good-byes |
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| Our leaders waving good-bye |
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| At the airport |
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| Heading back home. |
Thank your for all of your prayers throughout our trip!
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